"Smith, E E Doc - d'Alembert 8 - Eclipsing Binaries" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

"Must have been a rogue," Jules said calmly beside him. "Most of the asteroids within the
zone are moving approximately in the same direction and speed. Occasionally a free one
gets captured moving the other way. It doesn't usually last too long because it collides
with the rocks going the other way, just like it nearly collided with us."

Pias paused to regain his breath, then asked, "Well, how'd I do?"

"We're alive and unscratched-that's all that really matters. The Service doesn't give
points for neatness." He smiled as he added, "Next time, of course, you'll have to
practice dodging while firing back at them at the same time. "

"You're so encouraging." Pias plotted the course back to DesPlaines and spent the next
two hours relaxing after his ordeal.

Landings, as he had learned, were the hardest part of flying any air or
spacecraft-particularly landings on a three-gee world where the ground comes up to
meet you at a dizzying speed. This was the maneuver he'd practiced most often, and it
still made him slightly nervous. He moved with special care as he brought the ship down
to a perfect landing on the small private spaceport field that adjoined Felicite, the ducal
manor house of the d'Alembert family. As the two men climbed out of the ship, a
groundcar pulled up to the edge of the field and their wives waved at them.

Yvette Bavol and Vonnie d'Alembert were the other halves of what were acknowledged
to be the two best undercover teams in the Service of the Empire. All four were high-grav
natives, with all the speed, strength, and agility that implied. All four were intelligent and
resourceful, highly trained, and highly motivated. In addition, Jules and his sister Yvette
were members of the extraordinary Family d'Alembert, with its tradition of loyalty and
devotion to the Empire and its rulers.

"I see you both made it back intact," Vonnie shouted as the groundcar drove onto the
landing field to meet the two men.

The car pulled to a stop and each of the spacefarers kissed his wife in greeting. "How
can you ladies have ever doubted me'?" Pias asked immodestly.

"I had no doubt whatsoever that you'd brag about it afterwards," his wife laughed. "It
was the part in between takeoff and landing that worried us."

"I had to teach him something," Jules said. "There's only so many times you can save the
Empire on dumb luck alone. "

The incident he referred to had happened six months ago during the coronation of
Empress Stanley Eleven, while the forces of Lady A's conspiracy had been massing to
attack Earth. Pias, alone in a space vessel he didn't know how to pilot, had been the only
one in position to warn the Imperial Fleet that they were heading for an ambush. He'd
accomplished the feat by pushing buttons at random and piloting his craft in the most
absurd way possible so that the Imperial Fleet stopped short of the ambush site to
investigate.